I am a seventh-grade student at Jefferson Intermediate School and will be in the second class to go through Gabrielino High School. Myself and other students are ashamed of the members of our community who have been campaigning against the bond measure. Whether you like it or not, or whether the bond passes or not, there is going to be a high school. Don't you want it to be the best it can be? What have we done that gives you the right to take away our hope and future? Someone before you paid for your education.

Only days before San Gabriel residents will vote on a $29.9-million bond measure to build a high school, a Superior Court judge has cast doubt over the fate of the school and its district. The ruling last week by Los Angeles Judge Diane Wayne has both Alhambra and San Gabriel school officials claiming victory in a lawsuit contesting the validity of San Gabriel's 1992 unification election. The election created San Gabriel Unified School District from what was formerly an elementary district.

The 1992 election that created the San Gabriel Unified School District was ruled invalid this week, leaving the fledgling district's future in doubt. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diane L. Wayne tentatively ruled Tuesday that the state Board of Education should have allowed Alhambra voters to participate in the election that resulted in the secession of San Gabriel from the Alhambra City And High School District.

Most states have laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors, but enforcement of these laws is virtually nonexistent. That's not the case in Florida, where anyone under 18 caught smoking, buying or even being in possession of cigarettes is cited and ordered to appear in court with his or her parents. Plainclothes policemen, working overtime paid by money from Florida's settlement with the tobacco industry, patrol popular teen hang-outs to catch offenders in the act.

Today's column looks at the dreams of some sophomores and juniors at Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel, who wrote in as an assignment from their English teacher, Robin Stand. Adolescence can be a difficult time of transition.

These days, a stroll through San Gabriel's oldest public green space isn't just a walk in the park. Sure, Smith Park has trees, grass and picnic tables--all the things you'd find in any park in Anyplace, USA. But what's with the thatched roofs on stilts? The dry stream bed winding past the barbecue grills? The sea creatures "swimming" across the lawn?

April 24, 1994 | SUSAN CARRIER, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES; Carrier is a free - lance writer who lives in North San Gabriel. and

Mark and Mary Ann Epstein had long contemplated looking for greener pastures in Northern California. That is, until they discovered the community of North San Gabriel. "I thought we had to leave Southern California to find what we've found here," said Mary Ann Epstein, a part-time occupational therapist for Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey. "It's solid. It's family."